We don't need no Education

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Teachers, leave the kids alone
Hey, Teachers, leave those kids alone

All in all its just another brick in the wall
All in all you're just another brick in the wall..
[guitar]
~Lyrics of "Brick in the wall" by Pink Floyd
Video: Brick in the Wall


This song was released when I was not even born. For the first time I heard it, probably when I was a teenager, I wondered what this one signified. It didn't really make much sense. Com'on its blasphemous for a middleclass Indian boy to say 'I don't need no education'. huh...

Later, I read on the internet that this song was adopted as a protest anthem by black students during the "Elsie's River" uprising in South Africa, protesting against the racial propaganda. But does this song work for today’s Indian youth. You bet, it does.

If you have a memory little longer than a week, its hard to forget the news of students, of an Ujjain college, beating a hapless professor to death. His crime- he was supposedly responsible for the cancellation of student elections. The furious ABVP activists threatening teachers, wagging fingers and spewing abuse, captured in full close up by television cameras.

So what, who cares? Its justice meted out by the 'Rang De Basanti' generation, their own way. I just can't comprehend how can this happen. Our country is supposed to be the one with the 'Guru-dakshina' tradition. Don't bother saying 'what are you saying dude, that was so archaic, doesn’t happen in today’s world'. That was archaic, but if killing profs is modern, I refuse to accept it. I hope, so will you.

Few days back in one of our LDP presentations, I remember saying 'We have 700 million people under 35 years of age. That’s more than the whole US population. We have the youth power. We are gonna beat the guts out of the Americans'. Sorry guyz, not any more. With this youth we can't even beat Bangladesh.

I sincerely hope that ours, the RDB cult generation, really awakens, stops valorizing a murder and starts saying 'We DO need this Education'. Happy Teachers Day!